RCB Blogs

Top 5 Virat-AB partnerships that made you stand up and say *Wow*!

When the duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers combine, more often than not, you get to witness a carnage! The Indo-South African pair didn't need much time to strike an off-field partnership and playing together at Bengaluru since the past 7 years has only made their friendship stronger.

Two of the best batsman going around currently, they've shared multiple stands that have managed to completely sweep us off our feet, with some mind-boggling T20 batting! Let's take a look at 5 such instances from the duo.

RCB v GL, 14th May 2016: 229 run stand (Kohli 109, de Villiers 129)

The highest partnership for any wicket in the IPL, the 2016 Go Green match saw the duo shattering their own record of 215. During the partnership, they together struck 20 sixes, AB sending 12 over the ropes while Virat deposited 8. The 248 runs at the end of 20 overs was the tournament's second-highest score registered, with the top 2 slots being held by RCB. Interestingly, it was the first instance where two batsmen had scored centuries in an IPL game.

MI v RCB, 10th May 2015: 215 run stand (Kohli 82*, de Villiers 133*)

When Gayle fell with the score at 20, nobody expected to see such an onslaught at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai Indians were firmly dominating in the season but de Villiers and Virat took to Bumrah, Pandya and Suchith with AB in particular playing the scoops and sweeps to even the faster bowlers. It was fitting, then that RCB came out winners by 39 runs.

KKR v RCB, 16th May 2016: 115 run stand (Kohli 75*, de Villiers 59*)

Manish Pandey and Andre Russell hit some lusty blows to give the hosts a score in excess of 180. Gayle blasted his way to 49 and got out with the score of 71. AB de Villiers joined his skipper and continued to blaze away. Both were at their belligerent best, chasing down the score with more than an over to spare, while staying unbeaten till the end.

RCB v SRH, 12th April 2016: 157 run stand (Kohli 75, de Villiers 82)

Six Machine Chris Gayle fell with the score at 6 and left it for Virat and AB to take over from there. Both had just begun their stellar campaign and it was this partnership against the likes of Bhuvneshwar and Mustafizur which propelled RCB to over 200 yet again. Sarfaraz Khan's blistering cameo is worth a mention here as we ended up trouncing SRH by 45 runs.

RCB v DD, 17th April 2016: 107 run stand (Kohli 79, de Villiers 55)

Virat Kohli was batting like a dream in Season 9 opening the batting and while his partner Gayle failed on a couple of occasions, AB de Villiers stood up in virtually every game, who played second fiddle to Virat on this occasion. The effort ended in a losing cause but it was encouraging to see Virat taking the lead and eclipsing the rate he would normally score at, to give RCB a fighting total of 191.